Steam drier for use on locomotives



"March 7, 1939. P. PASCALE 52,149,626

STEAM DRIER FOR USE ON LOCOMOTIVES Original Filed Sefrt. 18, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1 l I 1 I I l I l l l 1939. P. PAscALE 2,149,626

STEAM DRIER FOR USE ON LOCOMOTIVES Original Filed Sept. 18, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 arch 7,

I R Q Patented Mar. 7, 1939 STATES PATENT OFFICE STEAM DRIER FOR USE ON LocoMoTIvE Application September 18, 1934, Serial No. 744,518 Renewed October 12, 1936 6 Qhi invention relates to a device for removing particles of entrained moisture and other foreign matter from gases, and in particular to a device adapted for use as a steam drier on locomotives.

I have devised and patented. a number of throttle and other valves having as a part thereof drying devices designed to dry steam before passing it to the point of work.

These, in practice, have been exceptionally efiicient and the improvements about to be described are improvements that have been conceived as a result of my long experience and many experiments in the art, and my object now is to improve on my former constructions. I now present a steam drier that more efficiently and completely dries the steam than any of which I am aware, due in this instance to the manner in which the steam is introduced into the drier, and the construction of the steam drying surfaces and the increase in the area of the interior parts against which the steam impinges, whereby its direction of travel is changed several times before it passes through the superheater or directed to the cylinders, as the case may be, the main object being to'improve the steam by denuding it of a maximum amount or moisture.

Another and further object, and which from a practical standpoint is important, is to so construct the parts especially the steam drying parts, that they can be readily manufactured at a most much less than my former constructions. This is accomplished by making the drier in the main of separate plates, each provided with numerous nozzles, which plates with their nozzles,

- may be "cast instead of heretofore having to drill the' nozzles through the surface of the cylindrical drier element, the plates in the present instance being separately attached to suitable supports and when assembled will form a dry steam chamber coininumcating with a dry pipe or other outlet leading to the point of wdrk, whether to and through a superheater or not.

Heretoforeas intimated, the main drying element of my inventions has been a cylindrical shell, the surface of which has been provided, by drilling, with numerous small openings or nozzles, but experiment and experience have shown the form disclosed in the drawings to be more eiiioi nt. In this form the element is made up oi a num er of plat s ar n ed a ut a common xis t for a m n s d body, hexagonal in the oicsehtih i hce ther in p senti a m h eater spic s to h team and at the same ime dir ctin its t ward the nt r of the ill a d ohhaiic v a ain t th f es of e (Cl. 1831l 2) plates, thus preventing the moisture or separate wh h has e taken r m e am f m a ing through the nozzles and facilitates its passhs t9 the dr n pi es l d b k n e o A furth r ob ec i t o rm h cage r out casing or turbine of the drier, that the steam P ssin thcre roush will h r t d d w a dly against the plates of the drier proper, thus causing the separate or water to drop to the bottom of the drainage space or the chamber pro: vided therefor and avoid the possibility of its being ck d u an t me b t Steam h u h he n zzl s In he a ihe Fi ure 1 i n e at on of e dr r:

Fi r 2 i an n a ed a on and a tia section, a part of the cage being broken away sh win h ar n me o h d r pl e a SE PQIFiR Phlfl F g e 3 a detai ir ihcnta pe sp ctive sho ihs a porti n o the upp r d e f th member that carries the posts to which the drier Plat s a e conn cted;

i s oe clan Vi w art broken away how n a port on i the p a e and a portion .of he r su o s;

Fi ur .5 i a ect on t k ab ut o l ne 575 of Fi ur 4;

F ur 6 is a e l r d s c ion of one of t e nozz i h to th d awin s, th numer l l .dBS': -hates th out et or d pi e ead ng to the supe hcat r or to th en in a the case ma be. T is i fo m d With a lan e 2 wh ch is bo te o the nnu ar fla e 3 of the plate supporting ri 4. r n is for ed with an outwardly flaring flange 5 at its upper edge,- which is angular in ha e or rather it is formed with a umbe six in the present instance, of straight sides. Eac s d s p vided wit a l dge or e 6 to receive the lower edges of the drier plates 1.

At th p ints of intersection or corners of the fiance 5, I provide at e h a ve tical pos 8. The upper ends of these posts are connected by bars 9, the posts and bars constituting a frame to which the drier plates are connected. Each post, at its bottom and top, is provided with a boss or reinforcement in, and about midway of these posts there is another boss I I provided, and all of the bosses have threaded sockets to receive short bolts l2 and 53 by which the plates are secured to the posts and frame in steam tight fashion. The plates are provided with numerous small generally conically shaped nozzles I 3' having reduced inlet ends protruding outwardly from the plate to present a comb or brush-like surface against which the incoming steam is directed. These nozzles, as shown in Figure 6, increase in cross-section from the inlet openings It to the exit openings IS.

The numeral I6 designates the cage or turbine. This is secured to the lower edge of the plate supporting ring 4 by short bolts I1 and entirely surrounds the drier proper and is covered by a head or plate l8 secured to the upper edge of the cage by bolts 19. The cover 18 is also the cover for the central drier assembly, as shown best in Fig. 5, and with the member 4 and the plates 1 forms a large dry-steam chamber 20 open at its lower end and through the hollow member 4, communicates with the outlet pipe I. The cover is is depressed centrally and provided with a threaded aperture for the reception of an eye bolt 2i by which the whole structure, which is quite heavy, can be conveniently handled.

The upper part of the wall of the cage is provided at intervals, circumferentially, with narrow vanes 22, spaced apart to form narrow slits or long narrow openings 23. The vanes are actuate in cross section, as shown best in Figs. 2 and 5, with their entrances pointing downwardly toward the outside of the cage, while their outlets point downwardly toward the drier plates so that the steam is directed downwardly against said plates, thus aiding the dropping of the water or separate to the bottom of the drain chamber 24, which is between the inner wall of the cage and the member 3, and at the lower portion of the drier. At intervals the flange 3 is out out to form drainage openings 25, through which and also through the flange of the pipe l, drainage pipes 26 are let in, and through which pipes the separate flows back into the boiler. Each drainage pipe is provided with a check Valve which is automatically opened when. a column of water forms therein to drain the water back into the boiler.

In operation, the drier being located in the steam space of the boiler, steam passes between the vanes, taking out part of its moisture, and downwardly from all sides of the drier simultaneously toward the center thereof and against the drier plates and the surfaces of the nozzles, which as before stated, and by reason of the tremendously increased surfaces and the shape of the nozzles, the steam is denuded of a maximum amount of water and is delivered in a substantially dry state through the nozzles and into the chamber 2!), from whence it passes to and through the dry pipe to the superheater, directly to the cylinders of the engine, or elsewhere where it is to be utilized.

I have illustrated the drier plates as being flat and the drier proper made up of a series of such plates, but it will be understood that the drier may be made up of a number of curved sections or sections of other surface increasing character and secured to the frame in any suitable manner.

It will be observed that by reason of the arcuate shape of the inlet openings and their location in the wall of the casing with relation to the nozzles on the drier plate, that the steam will be caused to impinge with great force and at high velocity against the cone shaped surfaces of the nozzles with a tendency to force the separate toward the bottom of the chamber 24, from whence it will pass through the pipes 26 and check valve, back into the boiler. This downagainst the numerous nozzles, facilitates in re-' moving the moisture and particles of other entrained matter since the steam is forced, due to the structural arrangement of my drier, to undergo considerable turbulence before it is finally combed through the protruding inlet ends of nozzles 13. While the form of my invention herein disclosed is described in connection with the drying of steam, it will be readily apparent that my invention may also be used for drying and cleaning other gases as well. It will therefore be understood that wherever the term steam has been used in the specification and appended claims that it is to be regarded in a generic sense as including other gases.

Having thus described my inventionQwhat I claim is:

1. A steam drier including an inlet opening and an outlet opening, a plurality of plates interposed between said openings, and forming an outer and an inner chamber in said casing, the inner chamber communicating with the outlet opening, the plates being provided with numerous protruding nozzles establishing communication between the outer and inner chambers, the nozzles having small entrance openings and comparatively large outlet openings.

2. A steam drier including a casing provided with numerous circumferentially arranged vanes in the upper portion thereof, arcuate in cross section, thereby forming a plurality of ports or slits, also arcuate in shape, and adapted to direct the steam as it enters the casing in a downward direction, an outlet opening for the casing, a plurality of plates interposed between the inlet opening and the outlet opening, said plates being provided with a plurality of nozzles with their ends protruding from the plates and extending toward the inlet opening, so that steam entering the casing will be projected downwardly against said nozzles.

3. A steam drier including a casing having inlet openings and an outlet opening, a plurality of plates supported in said casing and forming a barrier for the steam as it passes to the outlet, said plates being provided with a plurality of nozzles extending toward the inlet openings and protruding from the faces of the plates, said nozzles being formed with contracted inlet openings, the inlet openings of the casing being so shaped and arranged as to project the steam that enters the inlet openings of the casing downwardly against the nozzles.

4. A steam drier including a casing having numerous inlet openings in the upper part thereof, and an outlet opening, a plate supporting ring supported in said casing, a plurality of plates supported by said ring and forming a chamber within said plates communicating with the outlet opening, said plates being provided with numerous nozzles protruding from the faces of the plates toward the steam inlet openings, and through which the steam must pass before passing to the outlet opening, said nozzles being in the shape of truncated cones tapering toward their steam inlet ends, and having the orifices therein enlarging outwardly toward the steam ward direction of the projection of the steam the. casing and the outlet opening of the drier, 75

and also to increase the impinging surface of the incoming steam and to break up the currents thereof before passing through the nozzles whereby to promote separation of moisture from the steam, and said nozzles further defining tapered passages through said wall increasing in diameter in the direction of the steam flow.

6. In a steam drier, in combination, a casing having inlet openings and an outlet opening, a steam drying element interposed between said inlet and outlet openings so that incoming steam must pass there through before reaching the outlet opening, said element comprising a vertically extending wall carrying a multitude of nozzles which project outwardly from the surface thereof on the steam receiving side and presenting extended raised surfaces for contact with the incoming steam and said nozzles further defining tapered steam passages through said wall increasing in diameter in the direction of the steam flow, said inlet openings being so disposed with respect to said drying element as to deflect the entering steam obliquely toward said wall across and about said nozzles, and means guiding separate out of the path of flow of the steam and withdrawing it from the casing through an opening in advance of said wall.

PASQUALE PASCALE.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,l)+9,626 March 7, 1939.

PASQUALE PASCALE.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 1, first column, line 51, for the word "mo-st" read cost; page 2, first column, line 21+, for "actuate" read arcuate; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 22nd day of August, A. 13,19 9;

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of- Patents. 

